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Day 3: Weaning January 4, 2013

I am wrapping it up. At first, I was thinking of 10 days. That was very advantageous. In all honesty, I LOVE food. I really do. And although juicing is fun and delicious, I miss my food. The hubby and I decided we really like it for breakfast and I think our new routine is a fruit/veggie combo juice every morning. This morning I made us a green apple (6), carrot (6), celery (2 stalks) and beet (just 1) juice. It was delicious and I hardly tasted the beets.

To come off the juice fast, one must introduce foods slowly back to the system- don’t go out and grab a big mac! Tonight I had steamed edamame and a green salad. Steamed veggies and rice would also work, or a vegetable soup. Give the digestive system time to switch over.

I had some questions as to what I was doing, so I will try to answer them here:

(1) How did you get interested in juicing?

Yoga. One aspect of yoga is cleansing the body which can be done a number of ways. I have tried in the past and caved by the end of day 1. I also love to watch food documentaries. If you are really interested in learning about food in this country then here are some resources (but beware, some of them may leave you not wanting to eat!)

Watching this one of the reasons I decided on diet modification and going gluten-free

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight book

Hubby’s parents recommended this book and sent the cookbook- they are diabetic, again after reading this another reason to go gluten-free

There is research that gluten causes inflammation in the body and inflammation is a contributor to MS symptoms.

Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type book

Great read on body biochemistry and foods that are beneficial non beneficial based on blood types

Food Inc. film documentary

Shows production of food from large farms to market

King Corn film documentary

Shows dependence on corn in US, TONS of food products contain corn or a byproduct of corn

(2) What type of juicer do you have?

I did some research on juicers and I wanted on that I would be able to do leafy greens in without ruining the machine. Since I liked the Joe Cross documentary, I went with the one he used which is the Breville juice fountain plus. It can be found at Bed Bath and Beyond and you can use a 20% off coupon on it.

(3) Did you use recipes? How much did you juice?

The juicer comes with juice and pulp recipes, you can find many recipes on-line. I just came up with my own, as to what I thought would taste well together and deliver the most nutritional benefit. My favorite is the green apple/carrot. Try to buy organic produce for juicing, especially if you are using the skin. I would use about 3-4 green apples and about 5-6 carrots. That would yield about a 12-16oz glass of juice. This all depends on the size of the fruit and vegetables. I think I over did it on the beet juice. I used 3 beets and 1 large grapefruit and I had to pinch my nose to get it down. When I added one beet to the green apple/carrot juice it was much more tolerable. The cucumber/celery/pear juice was great too. The cucumber and celery alone nearly gave me a full glass (14oz). So a lot of it has been trial and error. I havent used the pulp yet, but I have heard people using it in muffins, cakes, bread and soups. The pulp has all the cellulose (fiber) from the fruit and vegetables, but it needs to be used right away or it loses its vitamin content.